Roll of the Dice: SUU’s Twist on the Classic Game

October 06, 2013Category: Special Events

Just in time for Homecoming, Southern Utah University students, alumni and friends will have a chance to roll the dice and buy their favorite campus attractions and landmarks in the first ever T-Birdopoly, an SUU twist to the classic board game, Monopoly®.

Created by University Relations, T-Birdopoly will allow players to vicariously travel around campus, allowing them to remember their fondest college memories.

Whether you are a Thunderbird, a Bronco or an Aggie, the game reaches through the decades and offers players, no matter how long you’ve been away from campus, a chance to travel down memory lane while passing go.

“T-Birdopoly covers all 115-years of the University’s history,” stated Dean O’Driscoll, vice president of University Relations and lead creator of T-Birdopoly. “Whether it’s through the tokens representing each stage of the University or the 30 buildings and landmarks, T-Birdopoly is customized to reflect each student, past or present, experience at this University.”

Once the decision was made by University marketing officials to construct a Monopoly® board game, they reached out to all alumni, students, employees and community members to receive input on what they wanted to see on this inaugural game board. More than 2,000 surveys were received and each one was read and tallied.

“Our team took the common themes from all 2,000 plus surveys to ensure that we included as much as possible on the board,” said O’Driscoll. “The outcome has resulted in a very attractive board game that showcases buildings from Old Main to J.L. Sorenson P.E. Building to the now non-existent War Memorial Fieldhouse.”

Playing the game is easy. Players will use University logos and even a Thor token to traverse the board, buying up properties like the Centrum Arena or the Gerald R. Sherratt Library and build on their locations with years of credit and diplomas (instead of houses and hotels).

But real estate moguls beware: one wrong move and you could be stuck in the Bookstore, otherwise known as the jail.

Other unique aspects of the game includes receiving campus mail, spending Spring Break at Sand Hollow, receiving a Thunderbird Award and the dreaded parking offense.

To debut the board game to campus and the community, all are invited to the T-Birdopoly Roll-Out Celebration on Wednesday, October 9 from noon to 3 p.m. in the Living Room located within the Sharwan Smith Student Center.

Prizes will be given throughout the afternoon where boards will be spread out, allowing anyone to play T-Birdopoly and enjoy free refreshments. Limited edition T-Birdopoly T-shirts will be given to the first 40 attendees.